August 2014

KingsQueen with her fabulous page Be. I love the large photo from this lovely young girl. The little cluster in the corner is beautiful and I also love the layering above the photo. So congrats KingsQueen on winning this weeks LOTW!

Who’s ready to try something new? Me! I’m always ready to try something new LOL! One of the things that has frustrated me is trying to find the absolute perfect scrapkit for my photo’s. It used to be I could just make what I need. Now, with a full-time job, three kids still at home & a new found love of photography, I just do not have the time to design and scrap. But, I found a solution!

Introducing Custom Collection Sundays! Every Sunday you, our readers, will get a chance to request a Custom Digital Scrapbooking Collection. Every Sunday I will take your requests and share it with theStudio Design Team. Every Sunday one lucky commenter will get their wish! How cool is that?

Very important note: I will post a new winner every week, however, please do not expect your Custom Collection to be ready within a week. Scrapbooking Collections take time, and that time varies by Designer. Some of our team are full-time designers, others are part-time. Some are new mommies with littles at home, and others are Grandmothers. Some of us are both.

Ready to get started? I’m going to share my number one request, just to give you an idea of what we’d like to see in the comments:

When deciding upon the name for this blog post, I just could not resist playing off the song title, ” The Shadow of your Smile,” a beautiful piece that has been recorded by so many fabulous vocalists. But today I will not be talking about songs, but rather about shadows on Photoshop Styles.

Some Photoshop Styles come with shadows, and some do not. There are reasons to create styles both ways, and it’s truly a designer’s preference.

If you want to use a Photoshop Style that does not have a shadow, if you are using a Style that has a shadow that is not quite what you are looking for, or if you want to create your own custom shadow, you can easily make those changes!

Today I am using Photoshop CS6, but these tips should work in most, if not all, versions of Photoshop. This works well with Photoshop Elements too; although paths may be different depending upon what version you are using.

Let’s start with this example. I have applied a new style of mine, String Photoshop Styles, to the text and flourish below. When I created the style, I elected to add a slight shadow to it.

Photoshop users:

If you do not see all of the layer style effects visible on your layer, click on the down-pointing arrow to the far right of the layer to expand the effects panel.

If you do not want a shadow at all, click on the visibility eyeball near the Drop Shadow effect to turn it off.

If you want to adjust the size, color, or other options of the shadow, double-click on the effects panel to open the Layer Style dialogue box, then make your adjustments in the Structure area.

If you want to create a custom shadow: As in most things with Photoshop, there are multiple ways to accomplish the same task. This is my favorite way to add a custom shadow to an element that has a style applied to it.

Expand the Effects panel, and click on the visibility eyeball near the Drop Shadow to turn it off.

Create a new blank layer below your element that you wish to create the custom shadow for.

Click on the Thumbnail of the element you wish to create your custom shadow for. This will select the element. You will see “marching ants” around the element, confirming the element is selected.

Click on the Blank Layer that you created to select it. Go to the top Menu Bar and choose: Edit > Fill > 50% Gray. Click OK. Click Control + D to deselect your element. Now you have a “shadow” (the 50% gray) on it’s own layer, ready and waiting for you to manipulate in your favorite way to create your custom shadow. I used the Warp Tool on the shadow of the flourish, pictured below.

For Photoshop Elements users:

In PSE you will need to double-click on the “fx” style icon on your layer to open the Style Settings box.

If you do not want a drop-shadow, remove the check mark in the Drop Shadow box.

If you would like to modify the shadow, you may do so here. You have the option of changing the size, color, distance, and opacity of the Style’s shadow.

You may follow the same method, as described above, for creating a 50% gray layer to manipulate. PSE does not have a Warp tool; however, Kimberly, of Kimberkatt Scraps, wrote a tutorial “Creating Custom Shadows in Photoshop Elements,” that I’m sure you will find helpful!

Shadows can make or break a layout. They can be tricky to get just right. I hope this tutorial has given you some tools to get started on your journey.

If you prefer not to go through the steps required to get a shadow on it’s own layer, Boop Designs has an Editable Drop Shadow Action available that works perfectly in both CS and PSE.

It’s Labor Day Weekend! Visit both our Personal and Commercial Use stores where you will be able to choose your favorite kits and tools to practice with, and save while doing it!

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We have 1-2 years left in Germany. I can’t believe how fast our time here has gone. I can’t believe how much my kids have grown. I really can’t believe how much of my bucket list I haven’t seen! I love travel. I love new places, new sights, new smells, new foods! When I realized […]

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Happy Long Weekend! The timing couldn’t be better. I still need to decompress from my vacation… and our house has a couple Honey Do chores for us as well. I think, maybe, the weather is cooperating and we’ll get to grill too. I’m ready! Have I mentioned “grillfackeln“? This is bacon-on-a-stick. But so much better […]

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Birthday Wishes by Butterfly Dsign is a beautiful birthday kit filled with lots of wonderful and cute elements. The kit is perfect for scrapping all kinds of birthday photo’s, but you can also use it for creating birthday cards. The colors are bright and cheerful and the papers will make fabulous backgrounds. Birthday Wishes by […]

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Mix some pink, some green, some yellow and some white colors, an owl that is beyond adorable, some flowers, a pinch of dreams, two fingers of romanticism and you will obtain a super cute collection by Vero-TheFrench Touch ! So add a French touch to your scrap pages with the Super Cute Page Kit […]

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I have decided I am now 90% German. Living here for five years, it’s just seeped into my being. I blame osmosis. We finally went on vacation-vacation last week. For one week. I totally get why Germans take such long vacations (Germans have on average 34 paid vacation days). It took me till Sunday to […]

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Hello all! Round Robin II: Manu Scraps Week 03 has gorgeous layouts, all radiating with that beautiful, vibrant color from the fantabulous Tuscan Summer collection! Coupons will go out tomorrow; Wednesday, August 27. This week we have a beautiful, perfect, end-of-summer collection. I think you will all love the Family Dinner collection! Please ask questions […]

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Some great new products have been uploaded recently to our CU store! Who doesn’t love texture overlays!? Certainly, they are amongst my favorites. Jilberts Bits of Bytes has these great Texture Overlays – Mixed Media 2 on sale with a 30% saving. Jill has kept them on the light side so that they will work […]

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